Dec 2, 2007  Africa: Climate Change Threatens Continent http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/cc0712a.php
    Climate change is not just in the future. It is already having serious effects, says the latest UNDP Human Development Report. Africa "has the lightest carbon footprint but is likely to pay the heaviest price in the coming century for human-induced climate change." Meanwhile, Texas, with a population of 23 million, produces more carbon emissions than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, with 720 million people.

Dec 2, 2007  Africa: Climate Change Impact Report http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/cc0712b.php
    "Climate disasters are heavily concentrated in poor countries. Some 262 million people were affected by climate disasters annually from 2000 to 2004, over 98 percent of them in the developing world. ... In [rich] countries one in 1,500 people was affected by climate disaster. The comparable figure for developing countries was one in 19." - UNDP Human Development Report

Nov 25, 2007  South Africa: & India & Brazil http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/ibsa0711.php
    With a combined population of 1.3 billion people, the alliance of "middle powers" India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA) could have substantial potential for influence on the world stage. At the second IBSA summit, held in South Africa in October, leaders signed pledges to accelerate cooperation and to double trilateral trade to $15 billion by 2010.

Nov 5, 2007  Africa: Sending Money Home http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/rem0711.php
    "Remittance flows to and within Africa approach US$40 billion. North African countries such as Morocco and Egypt are the continent's major recipients. East African countries heavily depend on these flows, with Somalia standing out as particularly remittance dependent. For the entire region, these transfers are 13 per cent of per capita income." - Sending Money Home, International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Oct 24, 2007  Africa: Neglecting Agriculture, 1 http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/ag0710a.php
    "The central finding of the study is that the agriculture sector has been neglected by both governments and the donor community, including the World Bank. ..The Bank's limited and, until recently, declining support for addressing the constraints on agriculture has not been used strategically to meet the diverse needs of a sector that requires coordinated intervention across a range of activities." - World Bank Independent Evaluation Group

Oct 24, 2007  Africa: Neglecting Agriculture, 2 http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/ag0710b.php
    "For the first time in 25 years, the World Bank's annual Development Report (WDR 2008) is dedicated to agriculture. The report is a welcome indicator of renewed interest in agriculture worldwide that is urgently needed... [But] though the WDR 2008 makes a few guarded references to the mistakes made under structural adjustment programs, there is no place that adequately describes the responsibility of countries and firms who made irresponsible loans, or of the Bank itself for its rigid and often misguided programs " EcoFair Trade Dialogue

Oct 8, 2007  Africa: New ICT Developments http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/tel0710.php
    "Africa's incumbent telcos have for so long dominated the discussion about where the market's going that it's hard to spot the moment when their ability to dominate slipped below the water line. The mobile operators are now the incumbents and as contenders for the title are seeking to secure their new-found position on the top of the heap." Balancing Act News Update

Oct 8, 2007  Africa: Ibrahim Governance Index http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/moib0710.php
    "What we're trying to say is that at the end, governance is reflected in what is delivered to people. .. We are not commenting on the policies. ...Policies should reflect in goods delivered to people. We're trying to capture it [this way] instead of going through this endless discussion about policies - what is good, what is bad - which becomes, at the end of the day, very subjective." - Mo Ibrahim

Sep 9, 2007  Africa: ICT Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/ict0709.php
    Africa, with only 3% of world internet users and some 14% of the world's population, is still the least connected continent. But it is also the one with the fastest growth rate in connectivity. The number of internet users has increased more than 7 times the number in the year 2000, to almost 34 million.

Sep 3, 2007  Sahel: Beyond Any Drought http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/sah0709.php
    "People blame locusts, drought and high food prices for the crisis that affected more than 3 million people in Niger in 2005, But these were just triggers. The real cause of the problem was that people there are chronically vulnerable. Two years later, they still are." - Vanessa Rubin, CARE International UK

Aug 28, 2007  Asia/Africa: Ubuntu and Sangsaeng http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/wcc0708.php
    "'Business as usual' is inappropriate, if humankind and creation are to survive on planet Earth. The prevailing development trajectory leads to destruction. ... But this is only one side of the coin.... [Those] who have realized the life-threatening consequences of the prevailing growth-oriented economic development paradigm are re-discovering the wisdom and life-affirming values of their own cultures and civilizations." World Council of Churches general secretary Samuel Kobia

Aug 10, 2007  China/Africa: Civil Society Meeting http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/ch0708.php
    "In China, attitudes toward Darfur are evolving rapidly - so that instead of being part of the problem, it could play a significant role in the solution. ... China does not want to be perceived globally as a defender of authoritarian regimes that perpetrate or are oblivious to human suffering." - Gareth Evans and Donald Steinberg

Jun 29, 2007  Africa: Trade Disconnect http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/tr0706.php
    International trade talks are again on the edge of collapse after failure of the G4 (United States, EU, Brazil, and India) to reach agreement at a side meeting in Potsdam, Germany. Developing countries are increasingly vocal in their refusal to make new commitments for opening their markets without meaningful concessions from industrialized countries on such issues as agricultural subsidies.

Jun 18, 2007  Africa: Two Cheers for G8? http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/lew0706.php
    "In 2005, at its meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, the [G-8] pledged to provide 'as close as possible to universal access to treatment' for all people suffering from AIDS by 2010. That should mean at least 10 million people in treatment by then ... Yet at the recent meeting, the G-8 said it was aiming to treat only some five million patients in Africa by an unspecified date. That sounds like consigning millions of untreated people to death and disability." - New York Times

Jun 5, 2007  Africa: "Aid" Promises Unmet http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/aid0706.php
    "The record so far indicates that apart from debt reduction, African countries haven't realized the benefits promised at the G-8 Summit two years ago, during the Year of Africa," John Page, the World Bank's chief economist for the Africa Region.

May 29, 2007  Africa: eLearning Africa http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/el0705.php
    Over 1200 eLearning enthusiasts from 85 countries are attending the annual eLearning Africa conference in Nairobi this week. The countries with the largest participation are the host, Kenya, followed by Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.

May 23, 2007  Africa: Medicines without Doctors http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/gf0705.php
    "The World Health Organization estimates that to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), health systems need at least 2.5 health workers per 1,000 people. In Mozambique, ... per 1,000 people there are 0.36 full-time equivalents of health workers (2004 figures).Mozambique's health workforce would have to be multiplied by seven to achieve the MDGs."

May 23, 2007  Africa: Eyes on the G8 http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/g8_0705.php
    The G8 (Group of 8) summit of the world's richest nations is scheduled to meet June 6-8 on the Baltic coast of Germany, and activists are demanding action not rhetoric on commitments to Africa. ActionAid, for example, is calling for at least 8,000 people, the number dying of AIDS every day, to upload images of their eyes to signal the leaders that the world is watching. Visit http://eyes.actionaid.org.uk/ to add your eyes and your message.

May 14, 2007  Nigeria: Election Aftermath http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/nig0705a.php
    Militant groups in the Niger Delta have stepped up attacks on oil installations following last month's election. Since the beginning of May, pipelines have been sabotaged and at least 29 foreign oil workers have been kidnapped. A spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) warned that attacks would continued until the government opened a dialogue about restoring the oil wealth to the people in the region.

May 7, 2007  USA/Africa: More than Just a Mvule Tree http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/kibo0705.php
    "Mrs. Mead's 4th grade class at Pecan Creek Elementary in Denton, Texas is writing, publishing and selling a book titled "More Than Just A Mvule Tree" for $5 per copy. All monies will be used to purchase Mvule trees to be planted in Uganda and maintained by Ugandan children to fund education thru the Kibo Group (http://www.kibogroup.org)"

Mar 17, 2007  Africa: Trade Unions Speak Out on Trade http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/tr0703.php
    Labor leaders from Brazil, India, South Africa and other developing countries spoke out earlier this month opposing demands by rich countries for sweeping cuts in tariffs. And global trade unions, formalizing new international ties, are also demanding that rich countries respond to the need for better terms for African cotton producers.

Feb 22, 2007  Zambia: Stop the Debt Vultures! http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/zam0702.php
    A High Court in Britain has rejected the claims of a U.S.-owned debt-collection firm to $42 million of debt from Zambia, but left open the door for the firm to get as much as $10 million to $20 million for the loan, which it purchased from Romania at a discount for less than $4 million. The firm is one of a number of "vulture funds" that specialize in buying up discounted third-world debt and then trying to collect the full sum.

Feb 9, 2007  Liberia: Debt Cancellation Overdue http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/lib0702.php
    Demonstrators delivered over 10,000 Valentine cards to the U.S. Treasury this week asking the U.S. Treasury Secretary to "have a heart" and cancel Liberia's debt. With the Liberia Partners' Forum in Washington scheduled for next week, even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that the debt is unsustainable. But more than a year after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office, Liberia is still being asked to repay arrears on accumulated debt.

Feb 4, 2007  Europe/Africa: Partnership Reality Check http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/epa0702.php
    During the World Social Forum in Nairobi, reported Kenya's Daily Nation, thousands of demonstrators paralyzed operations of the European Union office in Nairobi, protesting the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) now being negotiated as the new framework for economic ties between Europe and Africa. The demonstrators said further opening of African markets to European products would destabilize African economies and marginalize African farmers.